Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce The Big Apple, a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.

The “moose on the table” is similar to the “elephant in the room”—a big or a difficult problem that no one seems to acknowledge and attempt to tackle. The expression has been in use since at least 1992.

The Advocate (August 1994)
The Kentucky Department of Public Advocacy’s Journal of Criminal Justice Education and Research
Pg. 1:
Clearly Identifying the Moose on the Table
Cooperative Problem-Solving

Google BooksTotal Quality Management in Action
By Gopal K. Kanji; Sheffield Hallam University. Centre for Quality and Innovation.
New York, NY: Chapman & Hall
1996
Pg. 21:
Kearns and Nadler (1992) have a wonderful analogy about the ‘moose on the table’. These are the issues that everyone knows about but no one openly discusses. People will talk over, under, and around the moose, but no one says ‘There’s a moose here that we have to deal with’.

Quartz
NO CAN DO
The world doesn’t want canned soup anymore
By Roberto A. Ferdman @robferdman January 8, 2014
(...)
Campbell’s, the world’s largest soup-seller, is clearly concerned. “You listen to us talk for years about revitalizing the canned soup business that has long been the heart of our enterprise in North America, and you think we’re in denial. The question of the long-term plan for our soup business seems to be a perennial moose on the table,” the company’s CEO Denise Morrison said in an analyst call in late 2012.

Twitter
David Garrison
‏@DavidCGarrison
“Putting the moose on the table” RT @BayoTheDog: What turns of phrase describe “pointing out the big pink elephant in the room”?
1:00 PM - 9 Jan 14